Chapter 1: Traveling Through Time

"Poor young master, not only did he fall from the building and injure his head, but he also changed his marriage partner just because of a few words from the young lady!" A sympathetic voice sounded.

"You're bullying an orphan like this? You really have the nerve!" The voice that took over the conversation had a hint of standing up for justice.

But as soon as the voice finished speaking, it was hurriedly stopped by someone, who then lowered his voice and warned: "Shh!!! Now the Second Master has the final say in the De Lin family, so don't lose your composure!"

"Hey, I hope the young master gets better soon! Otherwise..."

The two voices outside the door were intermittent. On the bed inside the door, Lin Yao, who was called the eldest young master, was staring at the ceiling in a daze.

No, who can tell him!

Wasn't he still on Earth just now?

-

Lin Yao's memories belonging to the Earth began to revive.

He still remembered squatting on the bluestone slab at the door of the laboratory and counting the seed bags, while the July cicadas chirped loudly among the camphor tree leaves.

When the last bag of dormant plant seeds was handed to the senior brother, the wood ash on his fingertips rubbed out light gray marks on the other's white coat.

"Thank you, Junior Brother. This batch of samples is enough for our research group to publish two core papers."

The senior brother was holding the sealed box and smiling with wrinkles on his face. The sound of the metal box lock colliding was mixed with the humming of the centrifuge in the distant laboratory.

"I'll take them to the cold storage first. Lock the door and remember to check the power supply of the thermostatic cabinet."

Lin Yao waved his hand but didn't stand up, staring blankly at the light spots floating in the shadow of the camphor tree.

He handed this batch of seeds to his senior brother, and followed him to wade through three rivers in the Hengduan Mountains and squat in the rubber forest on Hainan Island during a typhoon. At this moment, the surface of the bag was still stained with sand and gravel from the southern foothills of the Himalayas.

I handed it over like this, and I still felt a little emotional, but there was another one, and it was also a very strange one.

Lin Yao returned to the room and came to the experimental table.

He took out the magnifying glass he carried with him and looked at the banyan tree seed in the glass container inquisitively, at the strange spiral patterns on the shell.

This thing comes from the tropical rainforest and was found by chance. When placed in a plant bag, it always causes other plant specimens to wither and plant seeds to lose their activity, so it can only be taken out and placed separately.

The professor said it might be some unknown allelopathy.

His knees clicked as he stood up, and he dusted off his overalls, inserting the key in the lock and turning it twice.

The patina on the brass door knocker rubbed against my fingertips. The moment the door hinge creaked, a sweet fragrance that did not belong to formaldehyde suddenly wafted out of the laboratory.

It smells like rotting orchids mixed with rain-soaked soil.

Lin Yao frowned and turned around, only to be met with a strange red light reflected from the glass door of the constant temperature cabinet.

The red light seeped out from the container containing the banyan tree seeds and spread across the tiled floor in a winding stream.

Just as he was about to take a step forward to see, he was suddenly grabbed by the back of his neck by an invisible force.

The shadow of the camphor tree in the field of vision instantly twisted into a vortex, and the chirping of cicadas turned into a sharp buzzing of bees.

He tried to grab the door frame, but his fingertips passed through the solid object. He felt like he was thrown into a washing machine, and his internal organs were churning in the feeling of weightlessness.

Before he finally lost consciousness, he heard the soft sound of seeds cracking and the rustling sound of some plant roots digging into the soil.

When I opened my eyes again, what stained my eyelashes was not the smell of laboratory disinfectant, but a piece of cold linen.

Lin Yao quickly opened his eyes because the room was really dark.

If he couldn't see the outline of the object clearly, he would have suspected that he was blind!

Lin Yao moved his fingers and found that the quilt covering his body was hard.

But the strange thing was that the robe he was wearing was made of good material, which was completely different from the material of the overalls he had been wearing for three years.

The strangest thing is the strange feeling in my body. There is a slight tingling in my wrist, as if I had been injected with some medicine.

His temples were throbbing, and countless fragments of images that did not belong to him exploded in his mind:

The person in the silver-grey uniform saluted the floating light screen;

The lavender mental barrier fluctuated within the glass cover;

A girl with a high ponytail threw a metal plate with the name 'Lin Yao' into the trash can;

besides……

The seeds of the strangler fig multiplied wildly in the petri dish, and the roots penetrated the glass and entangled a black and green anaconda.

"Hmm..." He sat up on the edge of the bed, his nightgown slipping off his shoulders, revealing the light blue veins on his collarbone.

The electronic calendar on the wall ticked away with an unfamiliar date: Year 372 of the Imperial Standard Calendar.

There is a line of small words in the blank space below: Central Star White Pagoda Academy Guide Assessment.

Something suddenly flew past outside the window, and the roar of the engine made the window frame tremble slightly.

Lin Yao stared at his overly white hands. These were not the hands with calluses on the knuckles from years of holding specimen folders.

The holographic photo frame on the bedside table suddenly lit up.

The boy inside looked 90% like him, but he was wearing a uniform he had never seen before, with a silver tower badge on his chest.

There was a notice under the photo frame, with the words "De Lin Family" printed in gold.

At the end, it was stamped with a scarlet seal: 'Confirmation of Marriage Exchange'.

Before Lin Yao could see clearly what was written on it, the discussions outside the door faded away.

But those words were like fine needles, piercing into Lin Yao's chaotic consciousness again.

He kept staring at the ceiling, but his eyes were moving wildly under his eyelids.

The eldest son? Falling from a building? Changing marriage partners?

These words are like puzzle pieces, fitting in with the fragments of memories belonging to the original owner in the mind.

The tingling in my wrist suddenly intensified, as if something was trying to drill out of this slender hand.

Lin Yao pressed his wrist hard, and his fingertips touched the protruding veins under the skin. Those veins were slowly wriggling into the shape of plant roots with his heartbeat.

The protruding veins suddenly throbbed violently, as if responding to his shock.

Lin Yao turned his head and, with the dim light from the photo frame, a blurry shadow was reflected in the small mirror next to it:

His face was as pale as paper, with a piece of silver medical tape stuck to his forehead. His beautiful peach blossom eyes were now filled with the horror of the earth's soul.

The fragments of knowledge about this interstellar world in my mind began to piece together automatically. This was actually an interstellar era.

In the early days of interstellar colonization, humans underwent directed genetic evolution in order to adapt to various extreme planetary environments.

The Sentinel possesses five senses and combat capabilities beyond that of ordinary people, and can snipe Zerg in the vacuum of space.

Guides have the ability to soothe the spirits of Sentinels and build mental barriers, and are the core link of Starfleet.

Legend has it that the first Sentinels were born in the radiation belt of the Gamma Galaxy, and the first Guide awakened on an agricultural planet contaminated by Zerg spores.

The two complement each other and jointly support the living space of mankind in the universe.

"So... I'm now a useless guide in a guide family whose marriage contract can be easily swapped?"

Lin Yao pulled the corners of his mouth, wanting to laugh but unable to.

"De Lin family..." He chewed on the surname silently, and the information in the original owner's memory suddenly became clear.

-

Guides are not uncommon in the Empire. Although ordinary guides can soothe the spirits of Sentinels, they find it difficult to cope with the mental impact of high-level Sentinels when they go berserk.

However, plant guides are rare among guides.

It is so precious that the Imperial Guide Association will provide each registered plant guide with an exclusive resource star.

This is because plant-based guides, in addition to having the functionality of ordinary guides, also possess unique spiritual abilities.

Not only can they unravel the chaotic mental power of the Sentinels and transform it into a steady flow of energy like plants absorbing nutrients, they can also provide an energy field for ordinary guides to restore their mental power.

And within the plant department, there's a clear hierarchy of abilities, with the Woody Plant Guide firmly at the top.

Their mental and physical strength can bear massive mental shocks. Back then, the mental nuclear explosion of the Alliance Marshal was forcibly suppressed by a redwood guide of the Ying family.

The herbal guides are second, although the amount of drainage in a single session is not as good as that of the woody ones, they can output at a high frequency and continuously, and are the core force of the frontline medical team;

The Fujimoto guides are the last in line. Their guidance is more inclined to precisely remove spiritual impurities, but they are often unable to do so in large-scale spiritual disasters.

The rarity of plant-based guides can be seen from the population base of the three major families.

The guides Mu Ben are the best, and there are less than a hundred registered guides in the entire tribe;

There are slightly more herbal guides, but no more than three hundred;

Although Fujimoto Guide has the highest proportion, he is still one in a million in an alliance with billions of people.

Because of this, plant guides can enjoy preferential treatment far exceeding that of ordinary guides no matter where they go.

As a branch of the Fujimoto family, the Delin family, even though it is now in decline, can still occupy a place on the central star of the empire by relying on the reputation of "plant guide".

The plant guides are clearly divided into three categories according to the plant species they are related to, from which three equally powerful families are derived - the Lin family, the Ying family and the Ge family.

The Lin family, as the representative of herbal plant guides, occupies an important position among the imperial plant guides with its flexible and diverse abilities.

Their spiritual bodies are mostly related to various herbs, such as mint, mugwort, lavender, etc. are common types.

Lin's guides are good at utilizing the properties of herbs. They can quickly release mental mist with paralyzing and sedative effects on the battlefield, effectively interfering with the actions of Zerg and enemy sentinels.

In daily life, the herbs they cultivate can be made into various mind-soothing potions, which are deeply loved by ordinary people and low-level sentinels.

Relying on these practical abilities, the Lin family has extensive influence in interstellar trade and medical fields, and the family businesses are spread across medical stations and pharmacy workshops in multiple galaxies.

The Ying family is an outstanding guide to woody plants, and the spirit bodies of family members are mostly tall trees, such as oak, pine, poplar, etc.

The spiritual power of the Ying family guides is as steady and heavy as a towering tree. They can build an extremely solid spiritual barrier to resist spiritual attacks from the outside world and mental interference from the Zerg.

In the defense system of the interstellar fortress, you can always see the figures of the Ying family guides. Their mental barrier is one of the fortress's strongest lines of defense.

Moreover, the Ying family guides' deep connection with woody plants gives them a certain ability to transform planets. They can create large forests on barren planets and improve the planetary environment.

This gives the Ying family a significant say in interstellar colonization and planetary development projects, and the family controls the development rights of several important colonized planets.

As the core family of the vine plant guides, the Ge family's strength should not be underestimated.

Their spiritual bodies are mostly various vines, such as kudzu, grapevines, wisteria, etc., which have extremely strong winding power and ductility.

In battle, the Ge Guide can manipulate vines to quickly wrap around enemies and restrict their movements. He can also use vines to climb steep terrain and perform flexible tactical maneuvers.

In the field of resource exploration, the vine spirit body of the Ge guide can penetrate deep into the ground and various complex environments to detect hidden mineral resources and energy reserves, providing important support for the empire's resource development.

The Delin family, as a branch of the Ge family, once had a glorious history.

The original owner's great-grandfather, relying on the powerful wisteria spirit body, successfully entangled the Zerg leader during a Zerg raid, buying precious time for the imperial army to counterattack and making great military achievements.

But as time went on, the talents of the Delin family dwindled, and the abilities of their spiritual bodies gradually declined.

By the time of the original owner's generation, he was supposed to inherit the powerful vine's spiritual body, but his spiritual body was just a weak flowering vine - the peony.

Not long after awakening, he met with an accident and suffered a serious blow, which made the De Lin family's position in the Ge family increasingly marginalized, and Lin Yao became the object of contempt from other branches and members of the De Lin family.

-

Lin Yao sorted out his memories about the three major families and the De Lin family, feeling mixed emotions.

Only now did he understand why the original owner was able to survive in the family. Even though he was a vine guide with the weakest drainage ability, his identity itself came with a protective umbrella.

But this rarity does not bring all luck. Even if you are a precious plant guide, as long as you are a waste, then even if your name is popular, who are you when you return to the family?

The current head of the De Lin family is Lin Yao's biological grandfather - De Linfeng.

The old man has three sons. The eldest son is Lin Yao’s father, the second son is the father of the eldest lady mentioned by the servant, and as for the third son, he is now fighting fiercely with the Zerg on the front battlefield!

In Lin Yao's generation, two plant guides awakened, one was him, and the other was his cousin De Linwei.

Speaking of this awakening, Lin Yao found relevant fragments about awakening in his original body's memory.

The age range for awakening the spiritual body is 8-16 years old. The original body is 19 years old this year. Three years ago, he was stuck at the deadline for awakening the spiritual body and awakened the spiritual body of Peony.

Logically speaking, according to the empire's relevant social welfare resource policies, in a branch family that has not produced a plant guide for two generations, the original body that awakened the peony should be living a prosperous life.

Because although the entire society has poured a lot of welfare resources into the plant gene family, there is a limit - that is, within three generations.

Especially for their evolutionary branch family, that is, the family carrying plant genes, if there has been no plant guide within three generations, then the welfare resources will be cancelled.

An evolutionary branch family is divided into several lineages.

For example, in today’s De Lin family, old man De Lin has three sons, so the De Lin family has three branches.

Mr. De Lin is not a botanical guide. He enjoys welfare resources because of his father and because he married a botanical guide.

This guide was the original owner's grandmother. Unfortunately, she died young.

Afterwards, Mr. De Lin remarried another guide. Although she was an ordinary guide, he did not cancel these two benefits because his deceased wife had descendants and the influence left by the original owner's great-grandfather.

If the original owner's father was not a plant guide, and his child, that is, the original owner, was not a plant guide either, then the welfare left by the original owner's great-grandfather would be taken back, and the welfare resources of the Delin family would be halved. This is the welfare resource policy stipulated by imperial law.

It stands to reason that the original owner's father's line would have two shares of the welfare provided by society, but because the original owner's father was not a plant guide, his second wife gave birth to two more children, and both awakened to become sentinels.

In order to prevent the brothers from quarreling, after discussing with the original owner's father, Mr. De Lin divided the two social welfare resources equally among the three brothers.

Since the original owner was born, he has carried the hopes of the De Lin family.

When he was three years old, his parents passed away unexpectedly, and the eyes of the entire De Lin family fell on him.

According to the thinking of the family members at that time, if the original owner's awakened spirit body was not a plant, then the Delin family, who were supported by the empire, would face the cruel problem of a decline in living standards.

But to everyone's surprise, before the original owner was expected by his family to awaken his spiritual body.

His second uncle's daughter, Delinwei, who was two years older than him and 12 years old at the time, actually awakened a plant spirit body, the fragrant lily with healing abilities, which was a herbaceous plant recorded in the archives.

This result caused a sensation because among the plant-based guides, the herbal plant spirit ranked second.

The Fujimoto family, which was originally the last in line, produced a herbal guide.

Not only did he single-handedly preserve all the welfare resources of the De Lin family, but he also took these resources to a higher level, and with the help of the Lin family's interpersonal resources, his resources became even more abundant. Therefore, the original owner who awakened step by step was no longer impressive.

Before Delinwei awakened her spiritual body, the Delin family's social welfare resources were divided equally, and it could even be said that they were slightly biased towards the original owner.

But after Delinwei awakened, all the resources of the Delin family were transferred to her, even the resources that originally belonged to the original owner were taken away.

Because of this, the original owner's spiritual body has not awakened for a long time. Even if it has awakened, it has become difficult to describe due to insufficient resources and subsequent accidents.

Lin Yao discovered that the original owner was a weak yet tough person. Even because of his family's neglect and snobbery, he did not give up on himself.

Lin Yao flipped through this part of the memory. The original owner comforted himself before awakening his spiritual body. Even if he was an ordinary person, he had to be an ordinary person with a skill.

So when the original owner was unable to resist his family, he learned to endure and began to read a lot of books. He loved reading and had an excellent memory. He could remember everything he read. He gained a lot of useful knowledge from books.

According to the regulations of the Empire, sentinels and guides must enter the White Tower Academy for study and training after awakening.

After awakening, the original owner also entered the Central Star White Tower Academy to study, but was isolated at the suggestion of Delinwei. Because of his poor mental strength, he only had D!

The original owner became the only guide in the history of Central Star White Pagoda Academy who ranked first in theory class but last in practical class.

The name "Waste Guide" also came from this, which further highlighted Delinwei's good qualities.

Thanks to my cousin, my second uncle's family has become more powerful and has more say in the Delin family. That's why the eldest lady can change the marriage that originally belonged to her with just one word.

However, this marriage exchange was a bit interesting. Lin Yao finally controlled the turmoil in his wrist and picked up the gold-plated "Marriage Exchange Confirmation" with his right hand.

The original owner's arrogant cousin actually exchanged her own engagement for him? This is truly unbelievable!